Truckers adamant, to go ahead with strike from Aug 6

Truckers on Saturday said they were firm on their decision to indefinitely keep over 60 lakh trucks off the roads across the country from August 6, in view of the government's failure to act on their demands to lower toll tax and take a relook on the toll policy.

"We have decided to proceed on an indefinite strike from August 6 as our attempts to persuade the government for reducing hefty toll charges levied on vehicles have failed. We had two rounds of talks with Road Transport officials," All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC) president G R Shanmugappa told reporters.

AIMTC has a membership of 62 lakh truckers.

Earlier this week, Road Transport and Highways Minister Kamal Nath had said that the government is trying to persuade truckers against going on strike from August 6 in the larger interests of the public.

AIMTC, which has called the indefinite strke, is seeking rationalisation of toll charges. It has sought a high-level probe, either by the CBI or a parliamentary panel, into the toll collection policy.

It has alleged that the "arbitrary" revision in toll rates in 2008 resulted in truckers paying a hefty Rs 5,000 crore a day as toll tax. The toll rates were increased to up to Rs 5 a km from Rs 1.40 in 1997.

Truckers had earlier gone on strike in July 2008, January 2009 and July 2009 to bring attention to their grievances, including "irrational" toll charges.

Besides toll tax, AIMTC has also called for revision of diesel prices and removal of anti-dumping duty on tyres.

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